Isaiah 49
Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth
1 Listen to Me, O aislands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
bThe Lord called Me from the womb;
From the 1body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My amouth like a sharp sword,
In the bshadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a 1select carrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, “aYou are My Servant, Israel,
bIn Whom I will 1show My glory.”
4 But I said, “I have atoiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My breward with My God.”
5 And now says athe Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that bIsrael might be gathered to Him
(For I am chonored in the sight of the Lord,
And My God is My dstrength),
6 He says, “It is too 1small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the apreserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a blight 2of the nations
So that My salvation may 3reach to the cend of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord, the aRedeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
To the bdespised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
“cKings will see and arise,
Princes will also dbow down,
Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
“In a afavorable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You;
And I will bkeep You and cgive You for a covenant of the people,
To 1drestore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;
9 Saying to those who are abound, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
Along the roads they will feed,
And their pasture will be on all bbare heights.
10 “They will anot hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching bheat or sun strike them down;
For cHe who has compassion on them will dlead them
And will guide them to esprings of water.
11 “I will make all aMy mountains a road,
And My bhighways will be raised up.
12 “Behold, these will come afrom afar;
And lo, these will come from the bnorth and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 aShout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For the bLord has comforted His people
And will chave compassion on His afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but aI will not forget you.
16 “Behold, I have ainscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your bwalls are continually before Me.
17 “Your 1builders hurry;
Your adestroyers and devastators
Will depart from you.
18 “aLift up your eyes and look around;
bAll of them gather together, cthey come to you.
dAs I live,” declares the Lord,
“You will surely eput on all of them as 1jewels and bind them on as a bride.
19 “For ayour waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—
Surely now you will be btoo cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who cswallowed you will be far away.
20 “The achildren of 1whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me;
Make room for me that I may live here.’
21 “Then you will asay in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And am bbarren, an cexile and a wanderer?
And who has reared these?
Behold, I was dleft alone;
1eFrom where did these come?’ ”
22 Thus says the Lord 1God,
“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
And set up My astandard to the peoples;
And they will bbring your sons in their bosom,
And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
23 “aKings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will bbow down to you with their faces to the earth
And click the dust of your feet;
And you will dknow that I am the Lord;
Those who hopefully ewait for Me will fnot be put to shame.
24 “aCan the prey be taken from the mighty man,
Or the captives of 1a tyrant be rescued?”
25 Surely, thus says the Lord,
“Even the acaptives of the mighty man will be taken away,
And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued;
For I will contend with the one who contends with you,
And I will bsave your sons.
26 “I will feed your aoppressors with their bown flesh,
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And call flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your dSavior
And your eRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Isaiah 60–62
1 “aArise, shine; for your blight has come,
And the cglory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 “For behold, adarkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you
And His bglory will appear upon you.
3 “aNations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 “aLift up your eyes round about and see;
They all gather together, they bcome to you.
Your sons will come from afar,
And your cdaughters will be 1carried in the arms.
5 “Then you will see and be aradiant,
And your heart will 1thrill and rejoice;
Because the babundance of the sea will be turned to you,
The cwealth of the nations will come to you.
6 “A multitude of camels will cover you,
The young camels of Midian and aEphah;
All those from bSheba will come;
They will bring cgold and frankincense,
And will dbear good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 “All the flocks of aKedar will be gathered together to you,
The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you;
They will go up with acceptance on My baltar,
And I shall 1cglorify My 2glorious house.
8 “aWho are these who fly like a cloud
And like the doves to their 1lattices?
9 “Surely the acoastlands will wait for Me;
And the bships of Tarshish will come first,
To cbring your sons from afar,
Their silver and their gold with them,
For the name of the Lord your God,
And for the Holy One of Israel because He has 1dglorified you.
10 “aForeigners will build up your walls,
And their bkings will minister to you;
For in My cwrath I struck you,
And in My favor I have had compassion on you.
11 “Your agates will be open continually;
They will not be closed day or night,
So that men may bbring to you the wealth of the nations,
With ctheir kings led in procession.
12 “For the anation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,
And the nations will be utterly ruined.
13 “The aglory of Lebanon will come to you,
The bjuniper, the box tree and the cypress together,
To beautify the place of My sanctuary;
And I shall make the cplace of My feet glorious.
14 “The asons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,
And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet;
And they will call you the bcity of the Lord,
The cZion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Whereas you have been aforsaken and bhated
With no one passing through,
I will make you an everlasting cpride,
A joy from generation to generation.
16 “You will also asuck the milk of nations
And suck the breast of kings;
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your bSavior
And your cRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 “Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
And instead of iron I will bring silver,
And instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
And I will make peace your administrators
And righteousness your overseers.
18 “aViolence will not be heard again in your land,
Nor bdevastation or destruction within your borders;
But you will call your cwalls salvation, and your dgates praise.
19 “No longer will you have the asun for light by day,
Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;
But you will have the bLord for an everlasting light,
And your cGod for your 1glory.
20 “Your asun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,
And the days of your bmourning will be over.
21 “Then all your apeople will be righteous;
They will bpossess the land forever,
The branch of 1My planting,
The cwork of My hands,
That I may be dglorified.
22 “The asmallest one will become a 1clan,
And the least one a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
1 The aSpirit of the Lord 1God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bbring good news to the 2cafflicted;
He has sent me to dbind up the brokenhearted,
To eproclaim liberty to captives
And 3freedom to prisoners;
2 To aproclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the bday of vengeance of our God;
To ccomfort all who mourn,
3 To agrant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The boil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called 1coaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
4 Then they will arebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastations;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
5 aStrangers will stand and pasture your flocks,
And 1foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.
6 But you will be called the apriests of the Lord;
You will be spoken of as bministers of our God.
You will eat the cwealth of nations,
And in their 1riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your ashame you will have a bdouble portion,
And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion.
Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,
cEverlasting joy will be theirs.
8 For I, the Lord, alove justice,
I hate robbery 1in the burnt offering;
And I will faithfully …